


the only rule is don't be boring

by bam_cassiopeia



Series: mininfo verse [2]
Category: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016), Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Original Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Daddy Issues, Empire Feels, F/M, Unreliable Narrator, What-If
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-29
Updated: 2016-08-31
Packaged: 2018-08-11 19:02:50
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 6,523
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7904089
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bam_cassiopeia/pseuds/bam_cassiopeia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>in the ninth year after the Proclamation of the Empire, socialite Jyn Erso's affair with a Grand Admiral is making the headlines when reporter Anora Fair disappears in mysterious circumstances.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Anora

**Author's Note:**

> for lyn, dearest evil gemini twin.

Anora Fair’s boss is punishing her, as he’s been doing since she’s had to drop the Kuat case. It’s the only reason why Turlon would give her none other than Jyn Erso, current darling of the holonews, to interview. It’s not Anora’s usual meat – she’s a real journalist. She follows real stories. Like the crackdown on Hutt cartels and its consequences. Like the vicious fights for territory in the coruscanti underworld. Like the business practices of Kuat Drive Yards and other corporate entities linked to the military, though she’s had to let that one go.

Turlon hasn’t let her tackle anything interesting since. She’s becoming a cautionary tale in the profession. After _Most impressive crashes of the year_ , her latest mockery of a holodocu, Anora thought she’d hit bottom. How wrong of her. Lady Erso is her worst assignment yet. Anora only knows her from the night edition of _Non Stop Coruscant_ – not that she would ever admit to watching that drivel. Certainly not to Turlon.

She just finds the gossip fantastic, and the world of the Empire’s golden, arrogant youth a fascinating one, so removed from her it feels fictional. It helps her stop thinking. From what she remembers, the daughter of Galen Erso – a man renowned as one of the greatest scientific minds of his generation, is an insipid socialite whose main claim to fame before her scandalous, whirlwind affair, was, according to _Non Stop Coruscant_ , an accomplished dress sense, being the heiress to a huge fortune, and having attended the Coruscant Academy.

 _I don’t know the first thing about coruscanti elite_ , she tries to protests, though it’s not exactly true. But Tulron doesn’t want to hear it. It’s that or the least impressive crashes of the year, he says. It’s not a joke – he’s doing her a favour, the way he sees it. Kuat should have been the end of her career. The end of her. As Turlon keeps reminding her, he can’t give her real subjects, but he can keep her in the public eye enough that one day, she might go back to her investigations. And because he’s terribly sly, he reminds Anora she might learn something about Erso Industries. You never know. One day the circumstances might be just right for the Kuat case to come out. Keeping an eye open never hurt anyone.

Behind his irascible behaviour, Turlon does like Anora. He mentored her, and can’t be too happy with her situation himself. Still hasn’t fired either. She should thank him. _I never signed up for dumb celebrities_ , she says instead.

Turlon takes it for what it is – acceptance of the job. _She’ll eat you alive if you think like that_ , he tells her, and shudders, as if Jyn Erso was some kind of terror.

Anora scoffs at the thought. She doubts the daughter is even half as dangerous as the father.

 

 

 


	2. Krennic

“Sir”, Rae called from the door of his office. “The transport is waiting.” She had a way of expressing extreme disapproval with a few neutral words that never ceased to amaze him. It had little effect on him, of course.

“Thank you,” he said. He didn’t move. He expected Rae had more to add – such was their partnership. His second provided the commentary, he ignored it. Most of the time.

“Are you still pouting about the kyber crystal monopoly?” She didn’t wait for an answer. “Kuat Drive Yards has been lobbying for years, we knew it would happen. You’ll have to learn to share your toys, someday.”

“There’s a high likelihood, yes.” He still didn’t move from his chair.

“That’s not what bothers you.” Rae said after a long minute.

“No, it’s not.”

She gave him a pointed look. “Is now the time? We’ll be late.”

“Fashionably so.”

“Of course,” she said, disapproving tone back, but her back straightened. She closed the door but stayed near it. “What is it?”

“Doctor Erso’s recent breakthrough are… strangely reminiscent of our own researches.” Researches that theoretically did not exist, and that the good Doctor should not have even been aware of. Added to the fact that he’d been instrumental into wrestling the monopoly on kyber crystals from the military, Galen Erso was growing to be an annoyance.

“You think he has a spy in our ranks.” It wasn’t a question. Her voice still hinted at disapproval, but the direction had changed. “What should we do to deal with it?”

“The spy hasn’t been very discrete. It’ll be easy to find who it is. Too easy, I think.”

“Maybe Erso wants you to be angry. Him – or someone else. It’s all very sudden. The Doctor isn’t known for intrigue. Not on that scale, at least.” So Rae had had her own suspicions.

Instead of answering, he pushed a datapad across his desk. She sighed and finally crossed the room to take it, one eyebrow raising in surprise at the frowning young woman in cadet uniform. The picture had been hard to find. “Who is it?”

“Doctor Erso’s daughter.”

“Really?”

“Graduation picture. It’s a few years old.”

“I doubt that’s public record, Sir.” A subtle remonstrance. She knew he needed those. “Will something happen to the girl?”

“No.” He’d envisaged about it, but it would be a petty move. Worse, an obvious one. There were other ways to punish Galen Erso. Some did include his daughter, and wouldn’t hinder his long term plans. “I’m just curious.”

Rae didn’t deign to answer his lie. She was going through the file, eyes moving rapidly. “There’s nothing interesting here,” she finally said, uncertainty marring her voice.

“Not exactly nothing. Socialite is an interesting career choice for a top Academy student.”

Rae didn’t seem convinced, but she shrugged. Abrasive as she could be, she was loyal. Maybe even trusted him. “Should I have her followed? That won’t be easy –“

“No,” he cut her. “I’ll speak with the lady myself.” She looked up from the datapad in surprise. He tried to look innocent. Her frown indicated she wasn’t buying it.

“Is it why we’re going to the gala?”

“It’s the anniversary of the Proclamation of the Empire, Rae. Of course we’re going.”

Not attending would be political suicide. Lady Erso would doubtlessly be there as well – a supplementary incentive if he had needed one.

 

 

Jyn Erso arrived more than fashionably late, on her father’s arm, covered by a dark cloak. Soon enough she’d left both to mingle, all grace and polite smiles.

She wore red, a tad too bright for the occasion. It clung in all the right places. Her dressmaker had to be the expensive kind. It took some effort to stop watching her.

“Two blades under the skirt, I think. Maybe more under the… ruffles.” He knew nothing about women’s fashion. It hadn’t been a problem before.

“I can see three weapons,” Rae said, visibly happy to beat him. Alderaani champagne had a terrible effect on her. “And that thing in her hair should count as a fourth.”

“Hmmm.” He couldn’t find a hint to that third weapon – quite annoying. He might have to ask Rae, once he was done entertaining the thought of Lady Erso taking off her elaborate hair pin to attack someone. Absently, he sipped at his own glass, and couldn’t help grimacing at the taste. Alderaani champagne was overrated, but the Emperor had a fondness for it, so of course it was all the rage.

At his side, Rae laughed. “I hear the lady is single,” she said.

He snorted. Rae could be subtle, but she rarely bothered. And he’d been staring rather blatantly. “I hear she’s vapid,” he replied, without taking his eyes off Lady Erso.

Rae snorted in turn. “She seems very good at being so.” An interesting distinction to draw. He didn’t answer – a few steps away, Jyn Erso was fliting from person to person, red dress drawing the eye in a sea of darker colours, knowing smiles and pearly laugh making their effect on her audience.

It really was a nice dress. The cut more daring than scandalous, the red bloody. Still no hint of that third weapon.

“It’s rather artful, wouldn’t you say?”  

Rae laughed again. “You’re filthy. Disgusting,” she said, as if she knew what he was thinking – she knew him too well, sadly. She frowned behind her glass, sparing a glance at the lady in red. “Go seduce her or something.”

He’d had other plans for the evening and Lady Erso. “Sound idea,” he said anyway. Rae blinked. A few steps away, Jyn Erso bent to give some kind of sweet to a red-faced child in black. The flesh behind her knees, suddenly revealed, was very pale. The little boy smiled up at her. She smiled back.

“And don’t look at her like that,” Rae grumbled in her exasperated voice.

“No?” Lady Erso rose gracefully. Her knees disappeared under red again. He mourned the sight quietly.

“No.”

“I don’t think the Lady minds,” he said, and as if she’d heard him, Jyn Erso turned towards them, sending one of those practiced smiles their way. Behind her, the child looked heartbroken, as she took a few steps their way. Too soon, the old Lady Sindian accosted her with a booming laugh and a cup of that terrible champagne in each hand.

Her hands moved excitedly as she talked. Military sign language, he realized, disguised by fluttering fingers.  _Looking hot daddy_ , he deciphered. A decidedly non-regulation sign followed.

Rae choked on her champagne. “Did she just…” She looked from the smugly smiling lady in red to him, disbelief clear on her face.

“Yes,” he said, aware his own voice sounded appreciative. “Yes, I believe she did.”

 

 

Jyn Erso loved dancing, of course, and could hardly refuse Director Krennic, as she told Lady Sindian. The old lady smiled benevolently and said she understood very well. Her hands still occupied by champagne glasses. The content spilled as she moved, narrowly missing his boots. He thanked her nonetheless and found himself with his hands full of lies.

His partner was a very good dancer, but with the kind of grace learned through hours of practice rather than anything natural. She smiled up at him and for a moment he could almost believe she meant it. He wondered if letting his hand slide lower was an option. It was a tempting one. She might try to use that hair pin.

“Your Academy years are far away now,” he said instead, watching for any reaction. “Interesting how well you remember signing. I’m not sure I remember that last sign from the manuals.”

She giggled. “I have a very good memory! I remember many things from my years there.”

He did not doubt that. “I suppose you liked it then.”

Her eyes lit up. “Oh yes! Very much so.” She smiled again, charming and innocent, and said nothing more of herself. He let her redirect the conversation to his own years of learning and campaigning during the Clone Wars instead. There was something a bit too intense in her eyes; he could feel his own smiles growing a tad too smug in response, his answers too direct.

When she asked him if he was tempted by fresh air, he didn’t think twice. Away from the crowd, Jyn Erso might let her mask down.

And he was curious as to her intentions.

 

 

They’d only walked a few steps in the garden when she turned to him. “You’ve been watching me, Director…” She bit her lip, as if nervous. “Is there… something… you might want?” She sounded breathy and unsure – perfectly so. He wanted to see how far she’d take her act. More than that, he wanted to take her apart and see how she worked.

Subtlety be damned. He could have found better than the gardens of the Imperial Palace, but at least they were alone.

“As a matter of fact, there is. It has to do with your father – you resent him terribly, to my understanding…”

“Are you… trying to exploit my daddy issues for your own gains?” Lady Erso stopped near a bench, eyes widened in faux shock, one hand rising to her mouth, trembling.

“Very much so,” he told her, stopping at her side. There wasn’t much of a point in lying now, and he was rather curious as to what she’d answer to that.

She stepped around him and grabbed his cape. She was smiling – a cutting thing that felt more real than any smile he’d seen on her yet. “Aren’t you a vicious thing”, she said in low tones. She sounded amused, the appearance of shock completely forgotten. He let her push him down on the bench, watching in fascination as her tongue darted out and she licked her lips. She stepped between his legs, so near he could feel the warmth of her skin.

“You don’t seem so bad yourself.” He found the flesh behind her knees, under the bloody red of her dress, and felt her shudder. He couldn’t say it if was real or fake. The gloves didn’t help, but he wasn’t sure he cared. Somewhere up, she had a blade strapped to each thigh, the outlines almost invisible. He really wanted to see how that worked. And to find that elusive third weapon.

“I know,” she said, voice breathy, almost a sigh. “That’s why I’m recording our conversation – short as it is, it will be of great interest to my father, Director Krennic.”

The minx. “Delicious. He didn't try to hide his appreciation of the move. And since he had nothing to lose – “I would rather your father hear something else, if anything.” Looking up at her satisfied smile, he tightened his grip, pulling her nearer.

She didn’t fall, but her hands went to his shoulders, and he could feel her fight for equilibrium.

Jyn Erso laughed and left her hands where they were, fingers joining at the nape of his neck. “I’m a good girl,” she said, voice breathy again. She made a small noise as he dug his thumb behind her knee. She pulled at his hair in return, none too gently, and he let his fingers trail up. “But I could be… convinced to keep that recording for myself.” That noise again.

“Any rules to your game, Lady Erso?”

Her smile was positively wicked. “Don’t be boring.”

No, she wouldn’t like that.

 

 

“How did it go?” Rae asked on the way back. She was piloting, of course. Ever competent and helpful, Rae was. Curious as well, though she wouldn’t ever admit it.

“If you’re asking about the evening, you were there for most of it. It was boring, as these things tend to be, but your snide commentaries helped me make it through the night.” He could almost hear Rae’s eyes roll, but he knew she was smiling as well. “If you’re asking about Jyn Erso, it went… oh, quite well.” She’d escaped him too soon, only to spend the remainder of the evening alternatively throwing lovelorn gazes and filthy signed messages his way. Rae had found the whole display hilarious as well as baffling. “I need to have a bunch of flowers with inappropriate meanings sent to her. Nerfscourges and rigelian irises, I think. Sunblossoms. Coma-bloom, maybe. This kind of thing.”

“What? That’s – that’s beyond inappropriate. Why would you…” Rae’s voice trailed off. She turned to look at him, visibly disturbed. “Autopilot,” she said, before he could protest at her leaving the craft’s command.

“Lady Erso is quite charming”, he answered. Rae glared harder. “Truly,” he added. Jyn Erso’s smile was a knife’s edge, and he couldn’t wait to find what else hid under the varnish of perfect socialite. Rae wouldn’t understand what he glimpsed there; something dark and desperate – something he wanted to set free. Inadvisable, without a doubt. Irresistible nonetheless.

“Charming like a mynock.” He shrugged. Jyn Erso was something worse than amere mynock. But Rae liked pretty girls with real, wide smiles, and hearts of gold. Not the kind to appreciate such gifts. “There should be a note with the flowers”, Rae added when he didn’t answer.

“No need,” he said, allowing himself some smugness. “She’ll know.”

 

 


	3. Anora

Just as expected, the assignment is a bore. She can’t believe she let herself be conned into accepting; she never had any reason to look beyond _Non Stop Coruscant_ when it came to Jyn Erso. Not even after the Kuat case had brought her to Erso Industries.

Turlon doesn’t even let her write her own questions, but Anora is a professional, always. It’s all she has left, now. And so she watches and reads everything she finds on Jyn Erso in preparation for that stupid interview. She doubts the socialite has anything to do with Galen Erso’s more unsavoury activities, but even so, she dislikes the woman instinctively.

The giggling is grating, the bland endorsement of her father’s work nauseating in light of what Anora herself knows. But holo after holo, she starts realizing that if Jyn Erso comes off as as extraordinarily stupid and self-centered, she says so little of father’s work, herself, or even of her admiral that it can’t be anything but voluntary. Especially since her scandalous relationship has been gracing the headlines for months now. Audiences can’t get enough of the ditzy socialite and the self-made admiral who turned her head. It’s a golden story, the stuff of modern fairytales, but before that latest courtship, Lady Erso was mostly known for her Academy years, a little, and her dress sense, a lot more. She was, strangely, somehow discrete.

It’s embarrassing to admit, but Anora only catches on that gift for never expressing a personal opinion and deflecting enquiries because of how public her affair with Grand Admiral Krennic is. Her previous suitors were industrialists and senators; none seems to have impressed Jyn Erso half as much as he apparently does. Even in the earliest holos showing them together, she clings to the man’s arm, looking up at him with adoring eyes. He’s harder to read. Smug and satisfied, but that seems more of a default setting.

_He’s dreamy_ , Jyn Erso confides to journalists. Her hologram giggles behind a dainty hand. Bats her lashes _. It was love at first sight! I just knew…_ She sighs and smiles, and discloses nothing of substance.

Grand Admiral Krennic himself isn’t available for comments; a certain Captain Sloane speaks in his stead. _Yes_ , she answers in a neutral voice that, considering what she says, Anora finds more funny than anything, _it was love at first sight. Yes, Director Krennic sent a formal declaration of intentions to Doctor Erso. No, I have no further comments on what happened in Colonel Yularen’s gardens._

Anora jots down, _formal declaration, no answer? interesting,_ though she’s not sure it is, and moves on to the next holo.

 

 

In the flesh, Jyn Erso is small and smiling and infuriatingly charming as she deflects all personal enquiries. As she thought, Anora doesn’t get any details, beyond the fact that red is indeed a favorite color. She finally deviates from her approved list of questions to ask the lady how different Grand Admiral Krennic is from her previous suitors and if her father approves of him, only to learn that everyone is different and that Galen Erso has, and this is well known, always been a friend of the Navy and the military as a whole. Anora’s next question, _what can you tell us about Erso Industries’ recent massive lay off?_ , one that would never have been approved and that she regrets immediately, sees the young woman admit her complete ignorance in these matters. She’s been kept so very busy, what with Orson, she says, this last bit delivered in a voice so cloying that Anora almost cringes.

Lady Erso’s smile is less bright after that. She leaves without saying her thanks. According to Turlon, who looks terribly worried, it’s a terrible slight and means she’s dissatisfied with Anora. _What am I going to do with you_ , he laments.

 

 

What he does is not giving her anything interesting to do. Her new feature is the corellian broadcloth embargo, a joke of a subject. She doesn’t protest this time – Tulron is pale and more worried than she’s ever seen him. Anyone but him would have fired her or docked her salary after Kuat; she can’t keep bringing problems to his door.

He has a family to think of. Anora doesn’t. She doesn’t even have a career to think of anymore, not after everything. Turlon would never tell her so, but she knows it’s true. He’d told her she was meddling where she shouldn’t from the start, and she hadn’t listened.

She rarely does. The truth is worth more than her safety, she’s always thought. It’s why she’s been keeping tabs on Siennar Systems, Erso Industries and others – she’s only been told to keep away from Kuat Drive Yards, technically, and it’s far from a real investigation. She’s limited herself to public sources, however inconclusive they are.

She has nothing to link Jyn Erso to the bigger story, not yet, but it’s a new angle. A new mystery and she hasn’t been making advances since she’s had to drop Kuat. She needs to feel like she’s doing something. And you never know. There might be nothing to find, but there might be something.

She doesn’t tell Turlon what she’s doing. She doesn’t tell anyone.

 


	4. Krennic

“How much does it take to woo you?” Jyn was putting his boots on, making a show of it. It was only a little bit ridiculous; like the rest of his uniform, they were too big for her.

“I don’t know. No one did it before.” Behind lowered lashes and a teasing smile, she was laughing at him. He could tell, now. She rose, done with the boots. The uniform would smell like her perfume – a fruity, girlish thing that lingered for days and that he disliked intensely. Probably why she chose it. Still, he supposed the sight of her putting on his clothes was worth that and more. He’d already let her invade his life and make room for herself. By the time he’d realized they might be sharing more than just a bed, she’d dug herself in. She left traces of her presence everywhere, and it should have felt too calculated to be charming, but there it was. It charmed him anyway.

She tripped on the cape on her way to his bed, falling gracelessly. “You’re too small for that uniform”, he said. He could probably find something her size. Or she could ask that dressmaker of hers. Maybe he could watch the fitting session. An enticing thought.

“You’re too old for anything.” She threw a boot at him. He ducked in time, but that only left her an opening to tackle him and push him down. The remaining boot pressed uncomfortably against his thigh.

“You’re terrible.” She was. He was still in his thirties.

“So are you”, she laughed, gloved hands trailing up his chest. It was just as good he liked looking up at her as much a she liked looking down at him. They might have had a problem otherwise.

“The worst of the worst”, he agreed. She cared little if he took pride in that. As a rule, he’d learned, there was little she cared about. The trick was finding what she did care for.

“Maybe not –“ He flipped her easily – he wasn’t too old for that yet. She didn’t really resist either. “Maybe that.” She was laughing at him again. She could be terribly vexing, truth be told. He reached for the belt, but she batted his hand away. “No,” she protested, “I’m wearing the uniform, I give the orders, that’s the rule.”

“What orders would that be, milady?”

“You listen to me and you don’t get angry.” All hints of playfulness were gone. That meant trouble.

“Jyn,” he said. His blaster was on the nightstand.

He wasn’t sure he’d have time to grab it if need be. He could subdue her without it and he didn’t want to damage her, but leaving Jyn the option to take the blaster herself would be extremely foolish.

“Daddy asked me to spy on you,” she said. All thoughts of violence went out of his head. “He thinks your interest in me is all but sincere.” She raised her hands to her mouth, hiding a giggle. Of course she’d delight in this.

“Does he now? How surprising.” Officially, Galen had yet to comment on his daughter’s current behavior. Unofficially, he was fuming.

Her hands came to his neck, twisting in his hair, pulling him down to whisper in his ear. “I told him, yes, of course, it’s kind of obvious?”

“How surprising,” he repeated, pinching her waist hard for her to let go. She did, but not without a final tug. “I suppose you accepted?”

“Of course. Isn’t that what you wanted?” She sounded supremely disinterested. “Now undress me.”

 

 

“Are you angry?,” she asked later, pressed against him, voice drowsy and low. He could feel the wild beating of her heart under her ribcage, her breath on his shoulder.

“Yes,” he said. Not at her, though she had a gift for being irritating. There were others, more deserving target for his anger.

“Jealous?”

That would be irrational. Still… “Yes.”

“Good.” She sounded much too pleased about that. She hesitated, heartbeat quickening. “I like you better, just so you know.”

I can’t afford to believe you, he could say. But he wanted her to convince him he could. “Good”, he chose instead.

“Ass.”

“The most impressive one this side of the galaxy,” he said, retreating into teasing. It was a safer kind of exchange.

Jyn let him. “Don’t steal my titles”, she grumbled. “I have few of those.”

He could think of a few. “I’ll leave you the other side. We’ll draw a contract.”

“Deal”, she muttered, the planes and angles of her shifting against his side. She pressed her lips against his shoulder. He turned to kiss her, slow and possessive. He had to bend awkwardly, but she sighed besides him, moving again, and the future crick in his neck seemed far away.

 

 

Jyn Erso would be the end of his career. Maybe his death. It would be an explosive end, he supposed, a crescendo movement with a world-shattering finale. She’d give him that at least. He couldn’t let it happen, of course. Redirecting her appetite for ruin, on the other hand, was a perfectly valid option. One that would benefit rather than doom him, or end in her death, something he’d rather avoid.

As far as gambling went, he was playing high stakes. He had no way to ascertain Jyn wasn’t playing her own game. Playing him. Galen Erso might believe his daughter was a loyal kind of creature, but he’d make no such mistake. Not yet.

 


	5. Anora

The first thing of interest Anora finds, through less than legal means, are Jyn Erso’s Academy records. They’re so pristine as to seem empty. No medical history, curiously; perfect grades and zero misdemeanor. Erso should have become an officer after that. Instead she went back to the luxury of coruscanti high society. Or was that back to her father? In Anora’s experience, you don’t turn your back on a golden career without a reason.

You don’t return to a father like that without one either.

She doesn’t have that reason yet. She wants to find it. Turning to the friendships cultivated by the scientist’s daughter doesn’t wield much results, mostly because it’s like searching a specific tree in a forest, while Anora doesn’t know the first thing about trees. She falls back on the suitors as a test batch. By the time she can confirm each of these relationships but one benefitted Erso Industries in some way or another, it’s been months since the interview. Most striking is a recently passed trade regulation so full of specific loopholes that it can’t be anything but carefully redacted. Interestingly enough, the terms benefit Sienar Systems more than Erso Industries. Next is a carefully written labour law with disquieting implications; then Anora realizes three out of four men lobbied for the end of the military’s monopoly on kyber crystals; the fourth is the admiral, the only one she can’t link to Erso Industries with something else than Galen Erso’s daughter.

It doesn’t stop there. It only starts there.

 

 

Maybe it’s paranoia, but Anora is certain she’s being followed. She doesn’t know what would have done it. Her recent research on Jyn Erso? Or maybe she’s just noticing. Maybe she’s been followed ever since Kuat. The thought is a cold, cold one.

She comms Turlon and resigns. She doesn’t tell him why. He’s been trying to protect her, keep her busy with what feels like a mockery of work. She can’t keep endangering him the way she has, and she can’t – she won’t stop. She’s just tracked down house employees of the Erso, and with what they told her, Anora knows she’s getting somewhere.

She’s not sure where. She just needs a little more time.

 

 

Two weeks after quitting, Anora comes back from Stewjon, where she talked to an old man who’d tutored Jyn Erso privately in the fine art of garroting, and finds Captain Sloane in her living room. She recognizes the woman immediately, though she wouldn’t have a few months ago. The Captain is sitting on her couch, wearing civilian clothes and looking completely at home, surrounded by brightly colored furniture. It’s a shock, and at the same time it’s everything but. It’s not the first time Anora finds an official in her home, and she’s been expecting it to happen again, but not like that. She’d thought it would be a stern-faced uniformed man with a blaster handy.

“Captain Sloane,” she says when it becomes obvious the soldier won’t speak first. The woman inclines her head.

“Anora Fair. I think you know why I’m here.”

“I’m not sure I do,” Anora answers, because it’s true. She’s not sure whether Sloane is here to convince her to stay silent somehow, or… something else. She has no doubt it’s related to her investigations on Jyn Erso, of course. The Captain has to be here on Grand Admiral Krennic’s orders – but he’s still an unknown, and Anora hasn’t yet worked out how he’s linked to Erso Industries, if he is at all. She supposes she can cross off _has nothing to do with it all and maybe it’s a real love story_ , or option five of her list. It’s a bit sad. Or it would be if fear wasn’t winning out.

She shouldn’t be afraid. She’s known all along where this would lead her.

Sloane sighs. “Can you not? I’d like this to be fast. I’m not actually here to threaten you.” There’s been no threat yet, but Anora would argue that just finding the Captain in her apartment is threatening enough that it doesn’t need to be formalized.

“Why then? What is it your boss wants?”

Sloane hesitates. Something like embarrassment twists her mouth.

“I don’t have anything on him. Nothing I’d want to release. I don’t have enough at all, anyway,” Anora says when the silence grows uncomfortable. And it’s true, all she has is circumstantial evidence, obtained illegally for the most part. She still hasn’t drawn real conclusions from it. She has no interest in making anything public. Not yet. “I just have – a mess of facts I can’t fully link together yet, and some suspicions.”

“I’m interested in both.” Anora just stares. Her unsolicited guest waves an impatient hand at her. “Grand Admiral Krennic is,” she amends. “Well, go on. Start with Erso Industries. And Jyn. I’m very interested in Jyn. He is.”

“Jyn Erso? Hum, she works for her father –“

“Does she now?” Sloane doesn’t seem to be surprised in the least.

“But I’m not certain she still does –“

“No?”

If Sloane keeps interrupting her, Anora is going to say something she’ll regret. But once again, the Captain is unsurprised. Intriguing. “No,” she says. “And I think you already knew that. Now let me talk, and I’ll tell you something you don’t know.”

 

 

By the time she’s done, Sloane is frowning unhappily and Anora doesn’t think she’s going to die today. It feels good, and it’s even better to tell someone everything. Once she’d stopped interrupting, the Captain had listened intently.

“The worst,” she concludes, “is – who will believe me? I can’t... I don’t have proof for the bigger story. The important one. Not even if I still had the Kuat data. And I’m not sure where – to whom it leads. It’s not just corruption, I told you – Doctor Erso, it’s not that he got too hungry, it’s that he was set up to take the fall. I know he was. Someone’s been moving pawns for almost a decade to break the military’s monopoly on kyber crystals. Why? I have no idea. And in any case, without proof, no one, absolutely no one in the profession, will ever release that. Even with a mountain of evidence, I’m not sure anyone would.”

“Why were you so interested in Jyn, if she’s not that important?”

Why are you, Anora bites back. She still doesn’t know why Sloane is here. She needs to be careful, and it’s a fair question. “She’s not important for the real story – she’s important because… honestly, a sensationalist feature on her activities? Famous celebrity groomed to sociopathy, pressured by her father to spy and blackmail? Holos will eat that up, even if they won’t want to touch the rest. It’s going to be a scandal. A goldmine. Galen Erso’s reputation will be destroyed.”

 “You believe any of that?” Captain Sloane is laughing. Anora doesn’t see how any of that is funny.

“That this is scandal-worthy? Yes. And I have to do something. I won’t get another chance if I don’t do it soon, and I don’t have enough data to do more before –” Before the next official in her apartment. Sloane may not be here to kill her, but her presence means Anora is being noticed. Her time is running out.

“I meant about Jyn.”

“I don’t care – I have witnesses, and I know it’s true enough; anyone checking will find the same thing I did, and anyone doing his job decently will find hints to the real, bigger picture. That’s what counts.”

Sloane raises an eyebrow. “So you’d settle on an incomplete story?”

It’s more than incomplete. It’s a spin. It goes against everything Anora stands for. But just this once? “Yes.”

Rae Sloane smiles. “Good. We can work with that. Here is what will happen: you’re going to write everything you have on Erso Industries. But not a word on Jyn’s involvement. Forget your scandal –“

“So that’s your Admiral’s game,” Anora interrupts. “He wants to use her the way her father did. It’s option three on her list: _Jyn Erso’s new owner_. “Better not damage her reputation, is that it?”

“No, it’s not – that’s not all there is to it.” The Captain looks embarrassed again. “Your idea could work, Fair, but exposing Jyn won’t just damage her… reputation. It’ll make her a target. That’s not happening, not as long as we don’t know who is behind all of this. And why.”

Anora doesn’t push it. She’s sure that’s not all there is to it. She doesn’t know what game Sloane’s admiral is playing. She doesn’t really care, not if he’s playing against Galen Erso, not if it means help. “Why should I do it?”

“Because if you don’t, I’m just going to walk out of this door. But if you do? Grand Admiral Krennic is very interested in what you know. I’m not going to tell you we’re in it for justice – we’re in it because we liked that monopoly very much, and we’d like it back, which is going to take some very delicate work.” Sloane pauses, visibly searching for words. She grimaces, distaste twisting her features. “My boss doesn’t like shadowy, unknown players much either. Sore loser. So as I said – you’re going to send what you have to everyone you can think of, and make a point to say how afraid you are of having stumbled into something big, and then you’ll disappear, in very suspicious circumstances. No one will hear of Anora Fair again. Delraan Lorne, on the other hand, will join my unit as a data analyst. I hope you like the name, because it’s too late to change it.”

 


	6. Krennic

“So Jyn Erso was useful, after all,” Rae said. The Erso Expedition, latest and most unexpected of the exploration initiatives launched in the years since the proclamation of the Empire has been the talk of the last days. On every feed, journalists and commentators asked if the Emperor had ordered this unofficial exile because of the many problems plaguing Erso Industries – or might it have something to do with the scandalous accusations leveled against him and some of his associates by reporter Anora Fair before her unexplained disappearance?

“An unexpected benefit”, he answered. He certainly hadn’t expected how much of one Jyn would be, that he would admit. How much of a risk he’d taken – that he wouldn’t. On the viewscreen behind Rae, Galen Erso spoke of the honor given to him and Erso Industries. His smile was strained and his voice flat. The doctor’s fixation on his daughter had certainly played a hand in his fall. If he hadn’t been so persuaded of her devotion, so sure to have the upper hand… He might have noticed something.

Rae probably didn’t believe him, but he could do little to change that. “What next? We still don’t know who was behind Erso, even with what Jyn told you or Fair’s data.”

That was indeed a problem. He had his suspicions, but the Emperor’s favourites couldn’t be brought down as easily as Galen Erso. Whose exile he had little to do with. He’d intended to push for an official investigation. Someone else moving in the shadows, again.  

But there was a more urgent matter to deal with first. “I’m getting married tomorrow.” The doctor would certainly try to bring his daughter with him on that mock expedition otherwise – not something to be allowed. Galen Erso would never see Jyn again. If he did, it would be brief. Deadly.   

Rae dropped her datapad. It didn’t break but she swore.

“I take it you disapprove?” She’d grown to like Jyn well enough, but not to the point of letting her guard down near her. Smart move, he supposed. Jyn liked Rae just fine herself, but that didn’t mean she would have any qualms hurting his second if she believed it necessary.

“Do you even trust her?”

“She hasn’t given me any reason not to.”

That meant nothing, and Rae knew it. “Either you love her, either you think she can be of more use. I’m not sure which is worse.”

“Yes”, he said. If he sounded smug, well, he could. Jyn did choose him in the end. Rae chucked a pen at him.

“Actually, I think you two deserve each other.”

“I do hope so.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Anora Fair is a very background character in Luceno's Tarkin. She kind of took over the crack.   
> Anyway, that was fun to write.


End file.
